Photo by Jim McCue/Maryland Jockey Club

Calumet Farm’s TURF STAR chose a big stage for his first stakes win at Laurel Park on Preakness Day in the listed James W. Murphy Stakes, run at one mile on the turf.

“Patiently rated down the backstretch” by Jorge Ruiz, Turf Star “raced along the inner rail the far turn, angled outside horses approaching the eighth pole, surged late and was up in deep stretch.”

The 3-year-old Caravaggio colt out of multiple graded stakes winner Starstruck (IRE), by Galileo (IRE) is an eye-catcher thanks to his distinctive tail, and he generated plenty of attention yesterday from the appreciative crowd. Turf Star was already graded stakes placed due to his second-place finish in last October’s Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes-G2 at Keeneland, which followed his maiden-breaker at Kentucky Downs on August 28. He now has two wins from seven starts and a bankroll of $282, 749.

Cheers to Calumet on yesterday’s stakes score!